Apparatus for recovering oysters



P 1953 s. G. HARRIS 2,652,588

APPARATUS FOR RECOVERING OYSTERS Original Filed June 28, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEYS Se t. 22, 1953 s. G. HARRIS APPARATUS FOR RECOVERING OYSTERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed June 28, 1950 ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 22, 1953 APPARATUS FOR RECOVERING OYSTERS Sterling G. Harris, Beaufort, S. C., assignor to Blue Channel Corporation, Port Royal, S. 0., a corporation of Maryland Original application June 28, 1950, Serial No.

170,789. Divided and this application November 20, 1951, Serial No. 257,378

1 Claim. 1 This invention relates to the processing of oysters to prepare them for canning and is concerned more particularly with a novel apparatus for recovering oyster meats from their shells.

2 Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2;

Heretofore, in the canning of oysters, the usual 5 Fig. i is a sectional view on the line G@ of preliminary operations have involved washing the 2, with the drum removed; and oysters and then heating them in a steam boX to Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional View showing cause the shells to p after which shuckers a pair of the longitudinal members of the drum pick the meats from the shells by hand. This in full size and actual spacing. method of extracting the oyster meats is slow, so The apparatus illustrated in the drawings comthat the output of a shucker is small, and, as prises a cylindrical drum 9 formed by end rings labor costs have recently increased as a result of is connected by spaced longitudinal members I I, legislation, the cost of production has risen to the which may be pipes. The pipes are spaced to point where it is diiiicult to can oysters by present permit oyster meats to pass between them, while methods at a profit. substantially all the shells are retained, and a The present invention is accordingly, directed drum about 10 long and made up of end rings to the provision of a novel apparatus for recoverand pipes spaced about 1%" is satisfactory. ing oyster meats from their shells, and the new The drum is supported, at a slight incline to the apparatus is of simple construction and easy to a horizontal, on flanged rollers I2, on which the operate, and can be used to handle the oysters in to end rings rest and which are fast on shafts l3. bulk and separate the meat from the shells with The shafts are supported at their opposite ends little loss. In the new apparatus, the oysters in bearings It on a framework l5 and each shaft which have been steamed so that the shells are has a bevel gear H6 at its upper end meshing with opened and the adhesion of the meats to the m a like gear ll on a shaft 18 mounted in bearings shells is greatly weakened, are raised repeatedly in brackets It on the framework. Shaft i3 is to a considerable height and allowed to fall, while driven from a source of power by a belt 20 driving water jets at high pressure are directed against pulley 2| on a shaft 22, the shafts l8 and 22 being the falling oysters. The combined effect of the connected by gears 23 and 24 on the respective impact and the water jets on the oysters quickly shafts. frees the meats from the shells, and the meats are A plurality of baffles 25 are secured to pipes l l carried away with the water as they are released. within the drum and extend helically from one The apparatus includes an inclined rotating cyend to the other. Each baffle is relatively wide lindrical drum having openings in its curved wall, for about a third its length starting at the upper through which the oyster meats may pass, while end of the drum and is narrow for the rest of its the shells are substantially all retained. The 5 length. The steamed oysters are fed into the drum is preferably made of a pair of end rings upper end of the drum by means of a feed chute connected by longitudinal members spaced suffi- 2% and are immediately picked up by the wide ciently to permit the meats to pass between them, portions of the bafiles, raised to near the top of while the shells are substantially all retained. the drum, and then allowed to fall. A water pipe The drum is provided with internal baffles, which 2i extends lengthwise within the drum near its raise the steamed oysters nearly to the top of the top and the pipe has a plurality of orifices 2%; for drum, as the latter rotates, and then allow the directing jets of water upon the oysters, as they oysters to fall and strike the inner surface of the are raised by the bafiles and released to drop to drum or other oysters therein. A water supply the bottom of the drum. The water is supplied. pipe extends into the drum lengthwise of the latto the pipe under pressure such that the comter and is perforated at intervals, the perforations bined action of the jets and the impact, to which being placed so that, when water under high presthe oysters are subjected, releases the meats from sure is supplied to the pipe, a plurality of jets their shells. The greater part of the meats are shoot through the perforations and strike the oysfreed in the upper third of the drum but the ters falling from the baffles. impact and jet action continue during the travel For a better understanding of the invention, of the oysters to the lower end of the drum to reference may be made to the accompanying insure complete recovery of the meats. drawings, in which: The freed meats escape with the water through Fig. l is a view in vertical section on the line the openings between the pipes of the drum and l-l of Fig. 2 of the preferred form of the appathe meats fall on pans 30 on the framework beratus neath the drum and are washed from the pans to a conveyor belt 31 trained over rollers 32. After repeated lifting and dropping, the shells are discharged upon an inclined plate 33, from which they fall upon a conveyor belt 34 to be carried to a disposal point The oyster meats, together with any shell material, which may have passed between the pipes of the drum, are discharged from conveyor belt 3| into a flotation tank 35 extending lengthwise of the drum at one side thereof and containing a brine of such salinity as to float the meats and permit the shell material to sink. The end wall of the tank adjacent the feed end of the drum is slightly lower than the other walls of the tank to provide an overflow 3511, which is directed upon a screen conveyor belt 36 overlying an overflow tank 31 for collecting the brine passing through the belt. A pump 38 connected to tank 31 withdraws brine from the tank and discharges the brine through a pipe 39 leading to one or more nozzles 60 within the flotation tank and through a branch ii to a manifold 42 extending across tank 35 and provided with nozzles 43. Nozzles 4e and A3 lie beyond the conveyor belt 31 and discharge toward the overflow end of tank 35. Nozzle 4E5 lies well within the body of liquid in the tank and is directed slightly upwardly, while nozzles 63 are directed horizontally and lie just below the level of the liquid in tank 35. The liquid entering tank 35 through the nozzles, accordingly, causes a current in the tank, which carries the floating oyster meats rapidly to the overflow end of the tank.

An inclined conveyor belt A l is trained about a roller 45 mounted between the walls of the flotation tank 35 and a roller 46 supported by the framework of the apparatus above the conveyor belt 34. Belt A l dies within the flotation tank beneath the discharge end of belt .3! and is driven by any suitable means. Any shell material discharged with the oyster meats in tank .35 falls upon belt 44 and is carried out of the tank and deposited on shell conveyor belt 34 to be carried away with the shells discharged from the drum.

In the use of the apparatus described, the oysters in the shell are preliminarilywashed and then steamed for about 9 minutes at a temperature of 240 F. The steaming for this period at the high temperature not only results in the opening of all the shells but also weakens the adhesion of the meat to the shells, so that recovery of the meats is facilitated. In the lifting and dropping of the oysters in bulk within the drum, while they are subjected to the action of the water jets, the meats freed from the shells quickly pass out of the mass of shells and escape between the longitudinal members of the drum, so that there is little likelihood of damage being done to the meats.

A form of drum found to be satisfactory is about long, 4' in diameter and has a pitch of about 1" per 3 of length. The drum is rotated at 20 to 22 R. P. M. In a drum of the construc tion described, the shells remain within the drum long enough to ensure the recovery of practically all the meats, and few shells escape between the longitudinal members of the drum- If the pitch is increased, the shells travel so rapidly through the drum that some meats may be carried with them, while a decrease in pitch is likely to increase the number of shells, which escape from the drum with the meats.

The several conveyor belts of the apparatus are driven by any suitable means and operate without attention to deliver the meats and shell material to the flotation tank, to remove the shell material from the tank, to carry away the shells, and to carry away the meats- The brine overflow is collected in the overflow tank and returned by the pump to the flotation tank, so that the flotation operation is carried out automatically. The conveyor belt 36, on which the meats are deposited, travels slowly and may serve as an inspection table, if desired.

This application is a division of my co-pending application Ser. No. 170,789, filed June 28, 1950, now Patent No. 2,608,716.

I claim:

Apparatus for freeing the meats from steamed oysters and separating the meats from the shells, which comprises a drum mounted for rotation on an axis inclined at a low angle to the horizontal, the drum being formed of a pair of end ring-s connected by parallel longitudinal members spaced to permit oyster meats to pass between them while holding back oyster shells, a plurality of bailies mounted on the longitudinal members inside the drum and extending through the drum on a helical curve of a pitch longer than the drum, each baflle having a substantial width for less than half its length starting from the high end of the drum and being relatively narrow for the remainder of its length, means within and extending through the length of the drum for directing high pressure jets of water from near the top of the drum toward the rising side only of the drum, and means beneath the drum for collecting oyster meats passing between the longitudinal members of the drum,

STERLING G. HARRIS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,047,688 Jenkins July 14, 1.936

2,331,855 Vucassovich Oct. 12, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 571,720 France Feb. 7, 1924 601,692 France Dec. 10, 1925 303,155 Great Britain Mar. 21, 1929 

